Harlem to city: Fix 125th St. for locals, not airline passengers using the M60 to get to LaGuardia

By MICHAEL J. FEENEY

|NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

May 24, 2013 | 10:56 AM

Traffic on 125th St. is a constant problem. (Daniella Zalcman for New York Da)

Harlem residents slammed a city proposal to add express buses and alter traffic flow on 125th St., asking the Department of Transportation to go back to the drawing board.

The plan, presented Thursday night at an "emergency" town hall meeting, would bring pay-in-advance Select Bus Service on the M60 bus line to ease congestion, plus add a dedicated bus lane and new left-turn restrictions at Lexington Ave. and Fifth Ave. from the westbound 125th St.

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Truck loading zones - between 8 and 11 a.m. - will also be added in selected locations.

"There's a lot of data analysis that went into the proposal," Department of Transportation Assistant Commissioner Tom Maguire said

The city hopes to implement the changes by the fall, but residents were quick to put the brakes on the plans.

"We have to be clear what they are talking about," said Angel Medina, a Harlem resident and former chairman of the Community Board 10 Transportation Committee. "We have to look at the implications (of the left-turn restrictions)."

Medina also questioned the city's focus on improving the M60 bus, which runs to LaGuardia Airport, but only 11% of its passengers use it for that purpose.

"They concentrated on how to make the M60 a better service, and the heck with the rest of it," he said after the meeting. "The problem is traffic. They didn't tell me how they are solving the traffic problem. Improve the traffic on 125th St., not ... the M60."

Another woman, who declined to give her name, asked the city to make a priority of "serving the community, not the airport."

The Select Bus plan did have some advocates, but the overall plan was viewed harshly.

"Go back to the drawing board and treat this community the way you treat other communities," said Henrietta Lyle, chairwoman of Community Board 10, calling for more information.

Department of Transportation officials did not immediately react to the feedback, but vowed to review the comments.

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"We look forward to responding...and working further with the community on this important project," said agency spokesman Nicholas Mosquera.